Congratulations, You've Inherited a Management Tool! Now What?
It’s not the tool, it’s the process that matters, writes ITSM Watch columnist Hank Marquis of Enterprise Management Associates.
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AskThis is not a made up scenario. It is a reality that many IT executives face. We all know you should choose a tool based on your needs, but what do you do when you already have a software tool, or don’t have any control over the tools you have?
We can’t always choose our tools, and when we can’t we simply have to make do with what we have. My position in such cases is to adopt a more process-reliant approach. That is, rely less on the tool and more on the process for using the tool. This means you want to keep customization to a minimum and need to transfer as much value as you can when you do get your new tool.
Tools automate tasks that people find mundane, and do things that people are not particularly good at like tracking issues or sending automatic responses. How, when and why people use a tool is called process, and process is not only portable, it grows and increases in value over time.
The software in the real-life scenario presented above is a full-feature IT Service Management suite from a major vendor, and there is nothing at all wrong with it. The current IT staff had no input into its selection and, since they were not involved with its selection, they have no vested interest in making it successful.
A real mess, but there is hope. Lets consider some common functions in the software inherited in this scenario, and recommendations for getting the most value out of the current tool while planning for the future.
Incident Management
Ticketing of incidents, problems and service requests is a common activity in most IT shops. Even those shops that do not distinguish between incidents and problems still usually record information form the user or system experiencing an issue. Most IT shops also have some means of handling service requests for installations, moves, adds and changes (IMAC’s), as well.
These are basic IT support functions usually carried out by a service or help desk function. So, what can you do in this area with your inherited tool? Turns out quite a lot actually:
